Danbury, Conn.
1/3/08 2:51 PM

T&T, New Third-Party Build Corp. Traveler Portal
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New York City
1/10/08 4:40 PM

Omaha's Travel and Transport engaged a local technology company using offshore resources to build a new traveler portal that now provides six corporate clients single-sign on access to booking tools, flight information from FlightStats, profile management using a T&T-built tool and other features.

It was the first piece of travel management business for Guru Alliance, a two year-old Omaha, Neb. software firm with 75 employees and a development center in Chennai, India.

"We are not focused specifically on the travel industry," said Guru Alliance executive director James Hoshor. "We have clients in gifts/loyalty to financial services to insurance, etc. We happened to work with T&T because both of us are headquartered here in Omaha and we had a previous relationship with [T&T senior vice president and CIO for information resources] Mike Kubasik."

Some other TMCs have their own traveler portals, while corporations often build theirs internally.

"We have found a lot of customers had a hard time getting information technology resources or were spending exorbitant money internally maintaining and building [travel intranet] sites," said Kubasik. "This is a cost-effective way to manage a Web site without having to get IT involved. As companies become more global, the product can link global offices under one umbrella, where they can share information and travel policies. We also update the site with pertinent travel news and advisories, and maintain the links to, say, Web check-in sites."

Guru has "a U.S. headquarters here in Omaha and they do some offshore development," said Kubasik. "We like that model because they have local staff and we can meet during normal business hours. We also liked the speed to market, since they have a large staff."

T&T purchased the software code and can customize it for clients, Kubasik said, noting that T&T is providing the system to its partners in the Radius network for joint client support.

Kubasik said the most basic reason for a portal is to handle what is still the number one question from travelers: "What's my password?" The portal layers over corporate booking tools, making it easier for clients to change booking systems.

Built using .NET, the portal includes Microsoft mapping technology using geo-coding for hotel directories and later will include mobile device integration for itineraries, Kubasik said.

Use of the product requires T&T clients to pay license fees in addition to their existing arrangements.

~ Jay Campbell

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